(A/N: A new chapter has arrived. You'll finally find out how Nausicaä and Asbel will react after Ved kissed her. So I'm going to stop talking now and let you get to reading.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 9: Ohmu Attack

It didn't matter who she asked, she always received the same answer. No one seemed to know where Asbel was. Some had seen him earlier, but no one knew where he was now. Nausicaä wondered where he had gone. They had made plans to go to the toxic jungle today after she had to cancel yesterday. So where did he go?

'Maybe Lord Yupa's seen him.' She thought.

She had the same problem she had with Asbel. No one had seen the sword master, and it seemed as if Nausicaä would have to file two missing persons cases, but then she found him meditating on top of one of the many windmills.

"Figures." She muttered as she made her way up to him. She opened her mouth to alert him of her presence, but he spoke first.

"Good morning, Nausicaä."

Nausicaä blinked, noticing that his eyes were closed. How did he know it was her? She shook it off and asked, "Lord Yupa, do you know where Asbel is?"

The sword master sighed. "I have not seen him since early this morning."

Nausicaä crossed her arms. "Where has that boy gotten to? We did have plans today."

Lord Yupa opened his eyes. "You mean you had rescheduled plans today."

Nausicaä flinched, remembering how she had forgotten about their trip yesterday and had ended up spending the day with Ved instead.

"Asbel said it was ok…" she mumbled, knowing that it didn't justify her actions.

"Nausicaä," Lord Yupa sighed, "what else was he going to say?"

Nausicaä flinched again. She had known deep down that Asbel had been upset. Still, he had insisted that she go along with Ved, who had already planned out the whole day. How could she not turn down his offer without hurting Ved's feelings?

"I… I…" She sighed. "I have no excuses. I did disregard Asbel's feelings."

"You were faced with a difficult decision." Lord Yupa admitted. "And what you chose did indeed seem like the logical choice. But you have to look further into this. Asbel feels as if he's losing you."

Nausicaä blinked. "Losing me? How?" She blushed as a theory came to her.

"No one likes to lose their friend to someone else." Lord Yupa pointed out, only giving her one of the reasons he was talking about. "Since Ved is courting you, a lot of your time is being spent with him. Time that Asbel was looking forward to spending with you. On top of that, if Ved is the prophesized one and you are is his soul mate, then once this is realized, you'll have a lot of responsibilities that will take up even more of your time. He probably feels like he's being left behind."

He paused to give this a moment to sink in. He saw the worried look on Nausicaä face and realized that he made his point.

"I've got to find Asbel!" she cried. "I don't want to lose my friendship with him. I'm not going to. I have to make him realize this."

"Is it friendship you want from him?" Lord Yupa asked seriously.

Nausicaä did a double take, surprised by the question. She opened her mouth to reply, but the sword master gave her a look that stopped her from saying whatever she was going to say.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked.

Lord Yupa shrugged. "If you know what to look for it is." He cocked his head to the side. "Do you love him?"

Nausicaä crossed her arms, thinking about it. "I'm not sure. I might."

"Well you should really find out. Before it's too late."

Nausicaä didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean, 'before it's too late'?"

Lord Yupa sighed again. "He saw you and Ved kiss last night."

It felt as if the world had fallen out from under Nausicaä's feet. Asbel had seen? He had seen! No, no one was supposed to see that. It wasn't even supposed to happen. True, it had been nowhere near unpleasant, but she had wanted to be the one to decide who her first kiss would belong to. And not only had it not gone to the person she had been hoping to give it to, but he had seen it go to someone else.

"Oh no." she whispered. "Asbel. I need to talk to him before it's too late."

"Calm yourself, Nausicaä." Lord Yupa told her. "You and Asbel have a special connection. A bond like yours can't be broken so easily. That's what true friendship is about. Things may come between you, but if you're patient and don't give up," he turned her around, and she saw Asbel and Ved walking back from the airship, "friends will always come back."

"Asbel!" Nausicaä cried, hurrying down the windmill.

Lord Yupa smirked. "All will be well."

"Asbel!" Nausicaä called to the Pejite prince, hurrying over to him.

"Oh, hey Nausicaä." Asbel replied, trying to keep the depression out of his voice. "How are you?"

"I've been looking for you." she said. "We were supposed to go to the toxic jungle today."

Asbel stared at her for a moment before smacking his forehead. "Oh, stupid! We were. I'm sorry, I got distracted."

Ved raised his hand. "My apologies. This is my fault. I asked Asbel to spar with me." He sighed. "It seems like I keep causing problems for the two of you. I keep interfering with your plans."

"It's not your fault." Asbel replied. "You were trying to help me. It's not like you were trying to keep us apart."

"That is besides the point." Said Ved. "I insist that the two of you go about your plans as you had intended. Spend the day together tomorrow as well if you need to. I shall stay out of your way until then. I promise you won't see me at all."

Nausicaä chuckled. "No need to go that far."

"I insist. And I shall now take my leave."

He bowed to them and headed off. Nausicaä and Asbel were left alone. The awkward silence had settled in. Neither knew what to say to the other. What did you say to someone in this situation?

They both settled on ignoring it.

"Do you still want to go to the toxic jungle?" Nausicaä asked.

Any other time, Asbel would have said yes. But he was exhausted. He had been training for hours, and had spared off with Ved awhile. But there was no way he was going to refuse time to spend with Nausicaä.

"I'm actually really tired right now." He said. "Been practicing for a long time."

Nausicaä chuckled. "I can see that."

"But since you're free tomorrow, can we go then?" he asked hopefully.

The princess nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"Great. Then how about I get cleaned up and you can show me more of your lab."

Nausicaä smiled and winked at him. "I'll meet you there. Don't keep me waiting long."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

"I always liked this one the most." Said Nausicaä, as she watered a particularly colorful plant. "I am so glad I found a way to decontaminate these plants. They're just too beautiful to not be able to admire without worrying about them killing you."

Asbel was a little less enthusiastic about the beauty of the plants. "I can see what you're saying, but try living in the toxic jungle for two years, seeing these things all the time, then see how fascinating they are."

Nausicaä rolled her eyes. "Boys just never understand the beauty of plants."

"I understand them," Asbel insisted, "I just get tired of looking at them after so long."

Nausicaä sighed and shook her head. "I'm thinking that I might be able to crossbreed a few plants while they're still toxic and then use their spores to make a new antitoxin."

Asbel tapped his chin. "That's an interesting idea."

"I'll need to collect more samples. Hmm, I wonder why the insects are immune to the jungle's toxins. Maybe if I can get a blood sample I can identify it. Maybe Ved can help, he has a lab too."

Asbel suddenly frowned, the thought of Nausicaä and Ved spending more time together depressing him. "Yeah… he's pretty great, isn't he?"

Nausicaä noted his sadness and knew that it was related to what happened between her and Ved. She decided that the subject couldn't be avoided forever.

"Hey, Asbel…"

Asbel quickly hid his depression. "Yeah, what's up?"

She hesitated before speaking. "About… about me and Ved-"

Asbel was quick to interrupt her. "Ah, don't worry about it. It's none of my business. After all, he may be the prophesized one. That's what you're trying to find out, right?"

Nausicaä looked away and slowly nodded. "Yeah, but… about… about last night… I know you saw us when we… we…"

Asbel paled, afraid that she would assume he was spying on her. "I swear, I wasn't spying or anything! I was just heading in that direction and-"

"I know!" said Nausicaä quickly, realizing that he was getting the wrong impression. "I just want you to know that it had been Ved that kissed me. I wasn't expecting it. He just… just…"

Asbel felt his fingernails dig into his palm as jealous filled him. He didn't want anyone to be kissing Nausicaä. Well, he didn't have much of a say in the matter if Nausicaä initiated the kiss, but someone else made the move first and caught Nausicaä off guard… How dare they! How dare-"

"Asbel?"

The Pejite prince blinked as Nausicaä voice brought him out of his jealous thoughts. "Huh? What?"

"You feeling ok?"

Asbel took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine." His eyes narrowed. "He didn't force it on you, did he?"

Nausicaä shook her head. "No, no, he didn't."

It was true. He had kissed her, and it had been unexpected, but it hadn't been forced.

Asbel sighed in relief. "Oh… well, that's good." He said.

Although a very small part of him had hoped that it had been forced; it would have given him an excuse to hit Ved.

Shaking away such unwanted thoughts, he asked the question that had been plaguing him, and that he hadn't meant to ask. "So, how was it?" He immediately regretted asking the moment the words were out of his mouth.

Nausicaä turned beet red and looked away again. "It was… well, I'm not sure. It was my… my first kiss."

First kiss. First kiss! Ved had stolen Nausicaä's first kiss! The thought infuriated Asbel. Bad enough for him to steal a kiss, but to steal Nausicaä's first kiss!

"I didn't kiss him back though." Nausicaä clarified. "Maybe that's why I can't figure out if I enjoyed it or not." She thought for a moment. "Does it even count if I don't kiss back?"

Asbel was surprised out of his jealousy by the question. "Um, I, uh… I don't know how to answer that." He said, feeling calmer. He turned away to hide his expression. "But if you want my opinion, I would say no. To me, a real kiss is shared between two people, both kissing the other one."

Nausicaä looked somewhat happier. "So, since I didn't kiss him back, it wasn't an actual kiss."

Asbel nodded. "That's what I would say."

"So then, I can still give my first kiss to someone else."

She sounded much closer now. Asbel turned to her and was surprised to find her face very close to his. When had she gotten closer?

"Y-Yeah… I would say so…" he said nervously.

A serious look appeared in Nausicaä's eyes. "I would say so too." She moved closer. "Asbel…"

She was being very forward. Asbel tried to speak, but nothing came out. Instead he found himself moving closer to her. He suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu. Hadn't they been in a situation similar to this right before the Kalvandirs came? And this time there was no one to interrupt them. Just a little closer and-"

"Princess!"

The door burst open, as someone ran inside. Nausicaä and Asbel jumped apart, surprised by the unexpected, and very unwelcome entry.

"Princess!"

Nausicaä regained her composure. "Mito, good to see you." she said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice.

"Princess, you must come quickly!" Mito cried.

Nausicaä's irritation faded away as she saw the desperation in his face. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"An Ohmu is attacking!"

Nausicaä's eyes widened fearfully. "What? Why?"

"Did someone disturb the insects?" asked Asbel, looking equally as worried.

Mito shook his head. "We don't know, but one is coming right for us!"

Nausicaä ran out of the room with Asbel close behind her. "Mito, get my glider!" she shouted over her shoulder.

They hurried outside and looked towards the toxic jungle. The giant form of an Ohmu was indeed heading for the Valley of the Wind, it's eyes red with rage. It was still rather far away, but it was rapidly approaching.

"It's on the attack alright." Said Asbel. "But what set it off?"

"I don't know." Nausicaä replied. "But I hope I can stop it."

"What?" Asbel cried. "I'm not letting you go after an angry Ohmu."

Nausicaä smiled confidently. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I am the prophesized one's soul mate. Besides, I've handled more angry Ohmu than this before. Mito, where's my glider?"

"Right here, princess!" Mito cried, running over to her with her glider.

"Great, thanks."

She snatched the glider from him and got ready to take off.

"Be careful." Asbel cried.

"I will!"

She took a running start and jumped in the air. Her glider rode on the ever-blowing wind, allowing her to achieve flight as she raced towards the enraged Ohmu.

"Ohmu, please, go back to you jungle!" she pleaded to the giant insect. "Be a good boy and go back home! Whatever we did, we're sorry! Please leave us alone!"

If the Ohmu even heard her cries, it completely ignored her. Nausicaä decided that she would need to use her flash grenades, and she unleashed them upon the Ohmu.

The Ohmu came to a sudden halt as the flash grenades stunned it. Nausicaä used this opportunity to try to calm it with her insect charm.

"Ok now, wake up and go home like a good Ohmu." She said as the insect charm whistled in her hand.

She circled around the Ohmu's head, waiting for it to wake up. But when it did, the eyes were not the light blue she expected, but they were still the angry red color, signifying that it was still very much enraged.

'My flash grenades and insect charm didn't affect it at all.' She gasped. 'What could have enraged it so much?'

Then the Ohmu did something completely unexpected. It actually turned to face her, its golden tentacles shooting out of its mouth; no longer as communicators, but as deadly whips.

'It's attacking me!' she realized.

She turned her glider to avoid the normally gentle tentacles, but one of them still struck her leg. Although it was different from normally being touched by an Ohmu, she still caught its emotions. The Ohmu was feeling great anger and confusion. Something was driving it to this violent behavior. But before she could see what else it was feeling, she lost the connection.

The Ohmu began thrashing about violently. Nausicaä flew her glider away from it, hoping it would follow. If she couldn't calm its fury, then she would at least lead it away from her valley.

As she hoped, the Ohmu gave chase, its tentacles flying around in an attempt to swat her from the sky.

"Need a hand?"

Nausicaä nearly fell off her glider in surprise as the familiar voice of Ved reached her. She looked to her left and saw him flying towards her on some sort of surfboard version of her glider.

"Ved, what?"

He smiled and winked at her. "I'll handle it from here. You head back to your valley."

"Are you crazy?" she cried. "There's something wrong with this Ohmu! It's too dangerous!"

Ved didn't seem discouraged. "Trust me. It will be all right. I have a special connection with the Ohmu."

"But Ved-"

"Trust me." He repeated. "I know I can do this. I'll come back to you."

Nausicaä hesitated. She didn't want to leave Ved alone to face the Ohmu. She had thought that she could handle it, but wasn't able to. What if Ved couldn't either?

Ved gave her no more time to decide as he got dangerously close to the Ohmu. It didn't take much for him to gain the Ohmu's attention, and soon it was focused on him as he led it away from Nausicaä and the valley.

"Ved!" she cried.

"Don't worry about me!" he cried. "I'll be fine."

Nausicaä didn't like it, but she decided to trust that Ved knew what he was doing and she headed back to her valley.

"Princess, what happened?" someone asked once she landed.

She hopped off her glider. "I don't know. I couldn't calm it. Something was wrong with it."

"What's he doing?" someone asked.

Nausicaä looked out to where Ved was circling over the Ohmu's head. "I can't tell." She said, putting her hand over her head to shade her vision. "It looks like he's… talking to it."

"Talking to it?" Said Lord Yupa, seeming to pop up out of nowhere. "Will his words really reach it?"

"We have faith in our prince." A Kalvandir said. "Look, behold his power."

Nausicaä's eyes widened. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The Ohmu had stopped its aggressive movements and its red eyes slowly changed to their calm blue color.

"I don't believe it." Lord Yupa whispered. "He actually stopped it."

"I couldn't even stop it." Nausicaä murmured, watching in awe as the Ohmu headed back to the toxic jungle. "Could he really be… the one the legend speaks of?"

(A/N: Yes, I did it again. I interrupted Nausicaä and Asbel's kiss. Don't hate me for it. Besides, there are now slightly more important matters happening. An Ohmu, for some unknown reason, was driven into a state of rage and actually attackedNausicaä. And Ved was able to succeed where she failed. Is he really the prophesized one, and what set off the Ohmu? The only way to find out is to keep reading.)