Chapter Three
Background Theme:
You Don't Love Me Back
"So what's this story Liz was mentioning,
Biah-who's…Daughter?" Alisha asked as we walked toward the center of the grassy
expanse that lay in the center of the campus grounds.
"Biatricci's Daughter,"
I corrected. I looked at her
askance. "It's about this guy who is
completely in love with this woman, an extremely charming, beautiful, and
wonderful woman in all respects. Sound
familiar?"
She cast me a sideways glance and pursed her lips, then
smiling slightly as she shook her head, saying, "Go on."
"Anyway, everything is perfect except for this one hang-up
he's got about her. She has an
imperfection, a minor blemish of some sort, I think. Rather than being happy with what he has, he is obsessed with
making her perfect. Somehow the
imperfection is removed. When it is,
she disappears."
"Why?"
"Supposedly such beauty cannot exist on this world." I looked at her. "I'm so glad you have your freckles," I smiled. "I can't
imagine my life without you in it to make me happy and drive me to distraction
at the same time."
Alisha smirked as she elbowed me in her toying way.
The
Tree was a tall and thin oak with an exaggerated bend in it almost reminiscent
of a Bonsai tree. The bend was probably
resultant from years of winds from the nearby bay. As the bough bends so grows the tree, etc. I'm sure the occasional hurricane along the
way didn't help matters, either, but the end result was a majestic and
beautifully graceful tree that was comfortable to sit under with its grassy bed
and provided a wide area of shade. An
entire class of 50 or so students could sit there and enjoy the cool shade the
Tree provided.
Happily, it would just be Alisha and I, save for a couple that
lay quietly reading on the outer rim of the Tree's cover. Alisha set her books on the ground next to
the Tree's trunk, placing her small handbag on top. She smoothed the underside of her jean skirt as she sat carefully
against the Tree. I casually tossed my
books aside, keeping the red folder in hand.
I sat, cross-legged, facing her, after placing the folder in her lap. Picking up the folder and leafing through
its pages, her eyebrows furrowed in consternation as she tried to decipher
names, titles, and short summaries gleaned from her brief perusal. She smirked, closing the folder, and handed
it to me. Leaning back, trying to get
comfortable, she placed her hands in her lap and closed her eyes. The gentle breeze tugged lightly at the
curliqued locks of hair that fell in front of her ears. "Read to me, Vic," she asked quietly.
This was one of the things I most enjoyed doing with
Alisha. She often told me she enjoyed
listening to the sound of my voice – for some reason she would not explain, it
gave her comfort. She even told me once
that I had a sexy voice. She especially
enjoyed sitting back, listening to me read to her the latest poem or short
story I had written. It made me feel
good to know I could pleasure her in this way.
"Well," I began, "first you need a little background. Do you remember anything I told you about
the world of Ranma ½ when I first
started watching the anime?"
Her eyes remained closed, but her brows furrowed again. "Wasn't it about some cross-dressing kid
from China?" This time I rolled my eyes. As if on cue, she crinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at
me for a brief second.
"Don't stick it out unless you intend to use it," I leered
suggestively. One delicate eyebrow
cocked up, eyes still closed, her face taking on a "nyah nyah nyah" look and
her tongue popped out again, this time for a few seconds longer and quite a bit
more exaggerated. I leaned my right arm
across her lap and carefully braced with it my hand on the ground next to them;
I shifted my weight onto the side of my right leg and extended the left one,
causing me to lean over Alisha almost perpendicular to where she reclined. With my left hand, I softly pinched the
underside of her right thigh. She jumped
out of her reverie and brought up her left hand to slap playfully at me. I quickly caught her wrist in my left hand
and froze. I noticed how delicate and
seemingly frail her wrists were. Her
hands were slightly smaller than my own.
I slowly played the underside of my hand against hers, matching them up
and seeing how they compared to mine.
Her hand was warm and slightly moist against mine as I closed it over
hers. My eyes widened slightly as I
looked up. Her eyes had widened
slightly further. The playful tirade
had brought our faces only inches apart.
Her breath caught in her throat while I quickly tried to swallow my own
heart as it attempted to beat a path out of my chest. An eternity passed as we looked deeply into each other's eyes,
locked in our stares with a mixture of desire and fear. I began to notice that she wasn't letting go
of my hand or compelling me to do so. I
looked quickly away as she began to blush.
The scent of her perfume drew my face back toward hers, causing me to
look back into her eyes. A moment
later, she looked down, then cleared her throat. She gently withdrew her hand, then picked up the folder I had
dropped, handing it back to me. She
then leaned back against the Tree and closed her eyes, quietly reposing again
with her hands settled in her lap.
She sighed heavily but quietly, then smiled slightly, opening
one eye quickly as she said, "Anyway, you were saying?" The eye closed just as quickly.
With mixed feelings I studied her face, sighed longingly yet
softly myself, then opened the folder, setting it on her lower lap.
I began reciting what I knew of the history and storyline of Ranma ½.
