Part VII - Precious


Asbel turned back to make sure that Nausicaä wasn't tripping on the stones in any way. "Come on, we're almost there."

"Where are you taking me Asbel," the princess said with a breath of laughter as she carefully continued to decsend the stairs, "I know we're going down in the castle, but where?"

"You'll see soon enough," the teen said in return, eyes landing on the blindfold that was covering her eyes and nodded to himself as it was still hiding her sight. When he suddenly stopped, Nausicaä didn't do the same and collided with his back, causing a gasp of surprise to come from both.

"Alright, now close your eyes," Asbel said as he moved behind her to get ready to take off the blind-fold.

"Asbel-"

"Come on, please?"

She sighed before closing her eyes, the darkness no different to that of the blindfold, nodding as she was ready.

"Ok, so now...open!"

Obeying once again, she opened her bright eyes and she blinked at the sight before her. It was her secret garden that she'd cultivated by herself, yet it was different. She knew that it would have been impossible for it to be what it once was, but what it was at the present still made her breathless.

"I...I thought they would have all died," Nausicaä said as she went up to the nearest plant, rubbing it's furry-like leaf and causing a smile to come to her face.

"Yeah, well," Asbel started as he scratched his head, having taken his hat off in respect in entering the nursery-like room, "Lord Yupa told me about it and I made it a duty of mine to try and bring it back to it's former glory. But I thought, you know how to do this better then me, so I bailed on waiting for it to be really sparkling-splendid and decided to tell you about it now before I accidentally kill it all off."

"You're too hard on yourself, you did great," she argued as she turned to him with a gentle smile, causing him to blush lightly. She studied his face for a few more moments before turning back to a flowering plant and asking, "But would you mind if I requested you continued caring for it with me?"

Asbel blinked before smiling widely and declaring, "Course!"

The fiery-haired youth readily mirrored his smile.


A/N: This is really similar to the last chapter, but I couldn't help but post it, hope you don't mind