Part IV - What She's Wanting
"I hate this."
At the sound of Nausicaä's oddly sour voice, Asbel's ears perked up a little.
"Why do I have to wear this?" He heard her continue, causing him to stop his climb for a second.
"But Princess...you look absolutely lovely." He heard a servant offer, Asbel hearing the pleading (and slight whining?) in the undertone of her shy voice.
As he finally finished his climb of the castle wall, he peaked his head in between the railing of the balcony for Nausicaa's room. He couldn't see her at first, but after he looked around the room he could see her outline from behind her changing screen, noticing the obviously distressed servant just outside the fancy screen. Taking one hand, the other by itself still being strong enough to hold him (and he had good footing), he cupped his mouth and made an odd call that sounded like an exotic pheasant bird.
He smiled lightly as he saw Nausicaä's silouette suddenly jump.
"You know, I think I can handle everything else on my own and I want time to think it over." Nausicaa said from still behind the curtain to her young servant. Asbel saw her mouth open, as if to protest, before she closed it and fiddled with her dainty fingers for a second. Finally, she opened her mouth again and said a short good-bye, not forgetting to give a deep bow at the door before leaving.
Sighing in relief, Asbel completely hauled himself over the railing and onto the balcony, rolling his shoulders a few times before continuing on into the princess' room, a little stiff from working in the fields and then the climb.
"Mind to tell me why you're here?" Nausicaä asked with obvious curiousity as he turned towards her outline, finding that she looked like she was putting something on. It had become somewhat of a ritual for the two late teenagers for Asbel to suddenly come into her room. Whenever Asbel wasn't working, he would stealthily climb up the wall of her castle (with the help of some vines) to visit her in her room. They'd already created the odd signal, a bird call that Asbel would do, to signal if he was outside if there were other people in her room. While their meetings we're as frequent as the two wanted since they both enjoyed each other's company, it was at least something. They could at least see and talk to each other at all, even if it had to be in private and in a not so honorable way. All in all, it was better then nothing.
"Hey, I haven't come over in a few weeks with all the farm work they load on me since I'm so youthful. And maybe I was under the impression that you may actually LIKE my company." Asbel droned without any real heat as he walked through the large glass doors that opened the room to the balcony, continuing on to her desk, finding that it held a tray of biscuits and a small cake along with a cup and small pot of tea. Ignoring the expensive beverage, he didn't think twice as he stretched out one of his grubby hands and grabbed a pasty, shoving it in his mouth in the next second.
"Yeah, well, you just came at a bad time is all." Nausicaä further sighed, yet to reveal herself from the protective screen.
"Mwat's mwong?" Asbel muffled out as he shoved in another baked sweet, sucking on each finger as if to get every speck of sugar.
He heard another sigh from her before she finally emmerged from behind the screen. When Asbel saw her just as he was about to shove in a lemon tart, he found himself coughing on the pastry that he was still chewing and drop the tart back on the silver tray.
"Do I look that bad?" She sighed as she moved towards her large mirror.
"N...No." He managed out as he finally took a gulp of the tea without thinking, hoping that it would clear his throat. But sadly, he'd fogotten about how HOT tea was and so was now coughing even more as to try and make the pain of burning his tongue lessen.
"It's for this stupid ball that's coming up tomorrow night." She continued as if she turned back to him, noticing that with his coughing it sounded like he was choking.
"You choking?" She voiced her concern as she glided closer to him.
"No. You just surprised me is all." He said as he beat his chest a few times, letting out his last few coughs.
"Cause I look so ugly?"
"No. It's just...you actually really look like a...how do I say it...real royal lady."
Asbel blinked as he saw Nausicaä's face go blank before her lips thined into a steely grimace.
"You don't see me as a lady?" She growled out as she approached him, seeming even more deadly in the frilly pale pink and red ball dress.
"Hey! I see you as a girl!" Asbel was quick to defend as he waved his hands infront of him while he shook his head, ear flaps spinning with his head.
Nausicaä favored to glare at him for a few seconds before she lightly snorted and turned away.
"Whatever. My advisors say that if I make a good 'impression' they may help out with making the new harbor you've been asking for." Nausicaä explained as she went back towards the mirror, turning around so that her back was facing it.
"R-Really?" He asked in excitment, just thinking about the possibilites if they had a harbor. It meant maybe less, but mostly how they'd actually have a better diet for the town and maybe even be able to trade. He knew that they needed to take advantage of the sea as there was so much the small valley could harbor from it.
"Yeah. So you better thank me." She said as she threw him a playful glare that he goofily grinned back at.
"You gotta tell me how I can repay you." He replied with a small tilt of his head, brown eyes gleaming in a joking way.
"Well, you can start by taking off this dress."
The tart that Asbel was going to try and eat (for a second time) dropped to the wooden floor at the statement she'd breezily stated.
"W-Wha?" He couldn't even form a whole word as he felt his eyes widen. But as he turned towards the redhead, she didn't seem to be the least fazzled by her statement.
"Well? Usually the servant would do this for me but since you made her go away, it's now YOUR duty."
"Right." He mummbled out as he slowly plodded over the room to her.
"Make sure not to rip it." She stated as she held up her hair with her hands, making sure he had easy access to the zipper.
"I-I don't know about this. I think I WILL rip it. You know how my hands are kinda clumsy." Asbel laughed as he snaked a hand under his hat to scratch his mass of brown hair.
Nausicaä only huffed, causing a few bangs to reagrange on her pretty face, before she glarred at Asbel in the mirror.
"Just do it." She ordered clearly.
So, gulping in apprehension, he rubbed his hands on his shirt a few times before reaching out towards the small of her back before finally grabbing onto the small zipper. Making sure his, still slightly, dirty hands didn't stain the dress, he was extra careful as he ran the zipper down. Sighing in relief, he took back his hands and looked down at his job well done.
Not saying a thanks, Nausicaä took a few steps away before finally climbing out of the expensive dress. Going over to her bed, she laid it down over the blankets so that it wouldn't wrinkle.
"Now, help me with the corset." She ordered next as she walked back to him, turning around again so that he could have access to her back.
"Huh?" He blinked in confusion, not knowing what she was talking about.
"You see this thing around my stomach?" She asked as she now turned to face him, pointing with her index fingers at the tightly tied garment.
"Oh..." He said as his eyes looked at the thing that made her look like she had no waist at all, "How do I do that?" he added as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"You untie the crisscrossed strings in the back. See them?" She asked as her back faced him again.
"Ah!" He said in triumph as he started on the bow and then continued from there. It took Asbel quite a bit longer then the simple zipper from the dress, but without fail, he finally got untied the last tie with a relieved sigh. He felt like that had been harder then fixing a windmill.
"There." He said in affirmation as he took his worn fingers away.
Nausicaä didn't waste a second as she ripped the thing off of her mid section before she did a deep breath of relief, glad that she could now actually breath properly, as she felt that that accused thing always made her breathless.
"That's better." She said happily as she jumped across the room in only her short underdress of silk.
"Sh-Shouldn't you go change into some...uh...pants?" Asbel asked uncomfortably. Wasn't it enough that he had to undress her, but now look at her while she wore something that showed off her long legs with golden skin that he rarely ever saw. His eye darted to her door, now more concerned then ever if someone was to barge in.
"Why? Does it bother you?" She giggled as she suddenly did a cart wheel, causing her dress to fly up and reveal her panties.
"Nausicaä!" Asbel cried, yet not too loud so that the others in the castle could hear him, as he grabbed his hat and jammed it over his eyes. He felt like his face was burning and he was pretty sure that even his ears (to the tip) were red.
"What?" She innocently asked as she skipped over to him, blinking her big brown eyes as she gave him a small smile on her pretty face.
Asbel tentatively lifted his hat from his eyes, feeling his face heat up even more at their close proximity.
"I'm just having some fun. Don't I deserve that?" She laughed as her eyes glimmered.
Abel could only groan in further embarassment as he tugged his hat back over his eyes.
A/N: Yeah...(shrugs) just something that popped in my head late last night. Did you enjoy? Care to tell me in a review? XD
